[bitontheslide]

Delyn MP Rob Roberts is facing allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards two junior members of parliamentary staff.

Messages seen by BBC Wales show the MP inviting a 21-year-old female intern to "fool around" with him.

He has also admitted asking out another House of Commons employee, which led them to move position.

Mr Roberts said he recognised the request to the staff member "was inappropriate".

But he did not provide a comment about the messages sent to the female intern, when asked for a response.

Mr Roberts was elected as the Conservative MP for Delyn in north Wales in December 2019.

His seat was a gain from Labour in the so-called Red Wall and had been previously held by Labour MP David Hanson since 1992.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: "Our party takes all allegations extremely seriously and has safeguarding and complaints processes in place to investigate complaints made to it under the party's code of conduct."

Mr Roberts propositioned the now former intern, who was working in Parliament at the time, in a series of messages in April this year.

In the messages, Mr Roberts referred to the intern's "picture on Twitter earlier. Lovely legs".

"Don't ignore me when I'm making you feel better," he told her.

The MP then went on to say that in future she might want to "fool around with no strings, you might come and visit me in London".

Later in the exchange the MP, who has recently split from his wife and come out as gay, told the female intern that he "might be gay but I enjoy… fun times".

The woman, who did not respond to the request, explained to the MP that she was in an "awful state" and was struggling with her mental health, to which Mr Roberts responded: "I was just thinking about fun times… Maybe if you thought of them too it might help you."

Speaking to BBC Wales, the former intern said the exchange made her feel "incredibly sick".

"I had had one of the worst days ever, and then I messaged him saying I'm crying, I'm not okay - and his solution to that was to proposition me," she said.

"I felt really vulnerable and I felt like I was being used to make him feel better about everything."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-53472289

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Have people not learned anything over the last few years?

[arista]

Another Terrible Conservative MP.

[Cherie]

peaking to BBC Wales, the former intern said the exchange made her feel "incredibly sick".

too right

[Niamh.]

What a creep